At least Arsenal have a decent left-back for Liverpool fixture this season

In the reverse fixture at The Emirates in January, Andre Santos thankfully played his last game for Arsenal in what was a poor display.

Arsenal welcome Liverpool to The Emirates this Saturday, and if it is anything like the meeting between the two sides at The Emirates in January - it should certainly be a game to remember.

That fixture finished 2-2, after a rampant second half Arsenal clawed back two goals from Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott, after Luis Suarez and Jordan Henderson had the visitors 2-0 up by the hour mark.

On that occasion the two were outside the top four, and certainly not harbouring any title ambitions - this time they face each other as two of the Premier League’s top three teams - and hoping to stretch the advantage over one another at the top.

But this time Arsenal do have one major difference, which could prove the difference.

At least this time they can play an actual left-back.

That fixture proved to be the final straw in regards to Andre Santos’ Arsenal career. It turned out to be his last ever game for the club, as the next day Arsenal snapped up Nacho Monreal from Malaga for £8.3 million - almost as a response to the dismal display that the woeful Santos put in against The Reds 24 hours earlier.

Ten days after that he was loaned out to Gremio, and has since left permanently to Flamengo.

He was poor all game, in general, with ball watching, poor positioning and general defensive liabilities all marked down on the advisory list for his performance MOT.

The shambolic way he found himself out of position and then shrugged off the ball by Henderson for the second truly perpetuated his bleak expression of ‘defending’.

In fairness to Santos, it is clear now that he is not a defender. He is currently playing in a central attacking midfield role back in Brazil - so there is something like proof on that topic.

Tomorrow, Wenger is positively spilt for choice, with the in-form Kieran Gibbs and his ready-made replacement Nacho Monreal both available.

So at least this time Arsenal will actually have a left-back playing against Liverpool at The Emirates.

Mathew Nash

I’m Mathew Nash a 27 year old graduate in Sports Studies and I have an insatiable love for sport. With a particularly keen interest for the madcap world of football I have always been known amongst friends as a beacon for bizarre sporting trivia and knowledge. My other passion is for writing and hopefully combining the two will create a superb and entertaining marriage that will create, divide and share opinion.Mathew is a correspondent for the NextGen Series, Ligue 1 and Primeira Liga.